The Death of the Sales Funnel: Why Buying Groups, Not Leads, Are the Future of B2B Growth

For decades, the sales funnel was the dominant metaphor shaping how marketers and sales teams thought about the buyer’s journey. It assumed a linear path: awareness leads to interest, which leads to consideration, and finally to purchase. Every lead moved predictably from top to bottom and marketers optimized touchpoints accordingly.

But the sales funnel is dead.

I know—that’s a controversial statement, and maybe even an uncomfortable one if you’ve built your KPIs, campaigns, and dashboards around it. That’s why I approached this piece not as a soapbox moment, but through the lens of research, evidence, and a bit of uncomfortable honesty.

What you’ll find here isn’t just opinion—it’s grounded in peer-reviewed research, primary data from Gartner and Forrester, and the real-time shifts many of us are witnessing on the frontlines of B2B marketing. So don’t shoot the messenger—I’m just a fellow passenger on this bus, watching the landscape evolve with the rest of you: marketers, brand owners, and growth leaders trying to make sense of it all.

Buying Is No Longer Linear—It's Collective, Asynchronous, and Digital

According to Gartner (2023), the average B2B buying decision today involves between 6 to 10 stakeholders, each of whom independently gathers information and evaluates potential solutions before converging on a group decision. These stakeholders are often from different departments, geographies, and functions—procurement, finance, operations, and IT—each bringing unique priorities and timelines into the mix.

In fact, Gartner notes that “buyers now spend only 17% of the purchase journey with sales reps—and when multiple vendors are involved, that drops to just 5–6% per supplier” (Gartner, 2023). The rest of the journey unfolds independently—through peer recommendations, third-party content, webinars, analyst reports, and product reviews.

What’s more, three out of four B2B buyers now prefer a rep-free experience, according to recent data from McKinsey (2022). This preference for self-service models further decouples the sales cycle from direct control and highlights the need for marketing strategies that align to buyer enablement—not just lead generation.

The Rise of Buying Groups

As linear funnels dissolve, they’re being replaced by buying groups -interconnected cohorts of internal stakeholders who jointly influence and approve purchases. Forrester refers to this as a shift from “lead-based” to “opportunity-based” marketing. Their research shows that 94% of B2B purchase decisions involve more than two people, and the complexity grows with deal size (Forrester, 2023).

This fundamentally changes how marketers must think about engagement:

• No single message will suffice.

• No single timeline governs progress.

• No single decision-maker can be relied on to champion your solution solo.

B2B marketers must now orchestrate influence across a web of personas - some active, some passive; some skeptical, some enthusiastic.

So, What Replaces the Funnel? A New Orchestration Model

To meet this new reality, we need a new mental model—one that integrates three strategic pillars into a unified approach:

1. ABM as Orchestration, Not Just Targeting

Account-Based Marketing (ABM) has traditionally been viewed as a targeting mechanism. But in today’s buying environment, ABM must evolve into a choreography platform - one that aligns messaging, content, and touchpoints to each stakeholder in the group.

Marketing teams need to build dynamic content matrices that address the information needs, emotional concerns, and business pressures of everyone from the CTO to the end user. Tools like Demandbase and 6sense are enabling this evolution, providing account-level insights that help marketers deliver precision engagement across the buying team.

2. Product-Led Growth (PLG) as a Signal Amplifier

Increasingly, B2B buyers want to “try before they buy.” Product-led growth models—such as freemium tiers, free trials, or sandbox environments—allow users to experience value before ever engaging a rep.

But PLG is not just about activation; it’s also a feedback loop. Usage patterns provide powerful buying signals: which features resonate, where friction occurs, and who is engaging. These insights inform both marketing strategy and sales outreach, allowing organizations to meet the buyer at the moment of intent.

Dropbox, Slack, and Atlassian have all successfully used PLG to disrupt traditional enterprise sales by letting users become internal advocates - turning buying groups into expansion engines.

3. Narrative-Driven Marketing as the Unifying Glue

With buying groups operating asynchronously, it becomes essential to have a clear, resonant brand narrative—one that aligns all stakeholders around a shared vision of value.

This narrative must do more than explain features or ROI. It must answer the deeper strategic and emotional questions that cross-functional teams are asking:

• Will this solution align with our long-term priorities?

• Will it make me look good internally?

• Is this brand a safe bet?

As Binet & Field’s research shows, emotionally driven B2B messaging outperforms rational messaging in long-term brand building (IPA, 2021). This is where narrative-driven marketing plays a critical role - not as fluff, but as framing.

From Funnels to Coalitions: A New Mindset for Growth

We are no longer managing a pipeline. We are enabling a coalition of buyers to align around a common decision. That requires:

• Integrated GTM strategies across marketing, sales, customer success, and product

• Real-time visibility into account-level behavior

• Cross-functional alignment around messaging, metrics, and market insight

The goal is not to push people down a funnel. It’s to create an environment where consensus can form naturally, confidently and quickly - with your brand as the catalyst.

Conclusion: The Funnel Isn’t Evolving—It’s Over

We’re not watching the funnel stretch or twist to fit new buyer behaviors. We’re watching it be replaced entirely.

The marketers and sellers who will thrive in this new era are the ones who recognize that growth isn’t about linear conversions—it’s about strategic orchestration, tailored influence, and empowering internal advocacy within buying groups.

And while that may feel overwhelming, it also opens up a more sophisticated, human, and opportunity-rich future for B2B. I’ll say it again: don’t shoot the messenger. I’m in it with you.